It's that time again. We are on vacation and would love to share our explorations with you.
Samia has been in England for the past two weeks for her MBA summer exchange program. We planned to meet in Warsaw, Poland after her program ended. I left Calgary on Friday morning on a 9:10 am flight. I had stayed Thursday night at Samia's parents place. After taking a quick shower and quickly having the delicious breakfast (and also the lunch sandwich that due to my confusion, I ate it with the breakfast omelette) that Samia's mom had specially prepared for me, Sarim and I left for the airport around 7:30 am. We avoided downtown and instead took the ring road Stoney Trail and were at the airport around 8:05 am. My first flight was a domestic one to Toronto so there was no need to reach 2 hours before the flight.
The flight was on time. In an attempt to sync my biological clock with Central European Summer Time of GMT+2, I stayed awake during the flight and read part of Malcom Gladwell's book "Outliers". After a flying time of almost 4 hours, the flight landed in Toronto. I made my way to the international gate which was a long walk but I had a lot of time since the layover in Toronto was almost 90 minutes. Passengers boarded the flight on time but the flight got delayed by an hour, first waiting to disembark a passenger, then waiting for the luggage belt to be fixed in which time two other passengers boarded the plane. The flight took off around 5:40 pm Toronto time for the 7.5 hours flight to Frankfurt. I had taken melatonin just before the flight so I kept sleeping on and off during the entire flight, only waking up for dinner service and then morning snack service.
The delay had meant that my layover in Frankfurt in which I had to clear immigration was now reduced to just one hour. The flight landed in Frankfurt around 7 am CentralEuropean Summer time and the flight to Warsaw was at 8 am. I almost ran to immigration, cleared immigration, had to pass through security and then again almost ran to the gate. When I reached there 5 minutes before the scheduled boarding time, I found out that the incoming flight was delayed so our flight would be delayed too. Only if I had known! All that running in the current heat wave of Europe for no reason!
On the flight to Warsaw, I finished the rest of the book and had coffee and a chocolate croissant. Due to the delay, the flight landed in Warsaw about half an hour late at 10:10 am. I took a taxi to our hotel and was graciously allowed to check-in early. I took a shower to freshen up and then reorganized my luggage. I spent the next few hours watching TV coverage about the Greek debt crisis and the very close vote (polls show it currently at 44-43) about staying in or leaving the Eurozone. I also researched a few details for the later parts of our trip. I kept in touch with Samia who went to her university town center in Loughborough, England to have lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then took her flight from the East Midlands airport to Warsaw. After her flight landed in Warsaw (not at the Chopin airport where my flight had landed but instead to the smaller Modlin airport), she had an interesting immigration experience where the immigration officer first thought she is from Mexico and then thought she was from Brazil. He also commented on the hot weather using an expletive. Samia took the pre-reserved shuttle to the hotel and reached here at 10 pm.
After she freshened up, we walked across the road to an Indian restaurant Bombay Masala that is very highly rated. We had their pakoras and meat platter. The quality of the food was very close to any fine dining restaurant in Lahore and the decor of the restaurant was also very fancy. The service was also efficient and attentive. After dinner, we decided to stroll around the city and walked a few blocks. We also walked by the EY building where one of Samia's Calgary team manager's remote team works. It was a refreshing walk. The days are very hot due to the heat wave in Europe but the night was very pleasant. Tomorrow, we'll start our real trip and begin with sightseeing Warsaw, Poland's current capital which was reconstructed in the last few decades after being destroyed in the Second World War bombings. Till then, take care and good night!
Samia has been in England for the past two weeks for her MBA summer exchange program. We planned to meet in Warsaw, Poland after her program ended. I left Calgary on Friday morning on a 9:10 am flight. I had stayed Thursday night at Samia's parents place. After taking a quick shower and quickly having the delicious breakfast (and also the lunch sandwich that due to my confusion, I ate it with the breakfast omelette) that Samia's mom had specially prepared for me, Sarim and I left for the airport around 7:30 am. We avoided downtown and instead took the ring road Stoney Trail and were at the airport around 8:05 am. My first flight was a domestic one to Toronto so there was no need to reach 2 hours before the flight.
The flight was on time. In an attempt to sync my biological clock with Central European Summer Time of GMT+2, I stayed awake during the flight and read part of Malcom Gladwell's book "Outliers". After a flying time of almost 4 hours, the flight landed in Toronto. I made my way to the international gate which was a long walk but I had a lot of time since the layover in Toronto was almost 90 minutes. Passengers boarded the flight on time but the flight got delayed by an hour, first waiting to disembark a passenger, then waiting for the luggage belt to be fixed in which time two other passengers boarded the plane. The flight took off around 5:40 pm Toronto time for the 7.5 hours flight to Frankfurt. I had taken melatonin just before the flight so I kept sleeping on and off during the entire flight, only waking up for dinner service and then morning snack service.
The delay had meant that my layover in Frankfurt in which I had to clear immigration was now reduced to just one hour. The flight landed in Frankfurt around 7 am CentralEuropean Summer time and the flight to Warsaw was at 8 am. I almost ran to immigration, cleared immigration, had to pass through security and then again almost ran to the gate. When I reached there 5 minutes before the scheduled boarding time, I found out that the incoming flight was delayed so our flight would be delayed too. Only if I had known! All that running in the current heat wave of Europe for no reason!
On the flight to Warsaw, I finished the rest of the book and had coffee and a chocolate croissant. Due to the delay, the flight landed in Warsaw about half an hour late at 10:10 am. I took a taxi to our hotel and was graciously allowed to check-in early. I took a shower to freshen up and then reorganized my luggage. I spent the next few hours watching TV coverage about the Greek debt crisis and the very close vote (polls show it currently at 44-43) about staying in or leaving the Eurozone. I also researched a few details for the later parts of our trip. I kept in touch with Samia who went to her university town center in Loughborough, England to have lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then took her flight from the East Midlands airport to Warsaw. After her flight landed in Warsaw (not at the Chopin airport where my flight had landed but instead to the smaller Modlin airport), she had an interesting immigration experience where the immigration officer first thought she is from Mexico and then thought she was from Brazil. He also commented on the hot weather using an expletive. Samia took the pre-reserved shuttle to the hotel and reached here at 10 pm.
After she freshened up, we walked across the road to an Indian restaurant Bombay Masala that is very highly rated. We had their pakoras and meat platter. The quality of the food was very close to any fine dining restaurant in Lahore and the decor of the restaurant was also very fancy. The service was also efficient and attentive. After dinner, we decided to stroll around the city and walked a few blocks. We also walked by the EY building where one of Samia's Calgary team manager's remote team works. It was a refreshing walk. The days are very hot due to the heat wave in Europe but the night was very pleasant. Tomorrow, we'll start our real trip and begin with sightseeing Warsaw, Poland's current capital which was reconstructed in the last few decades after being destroyed in the Second World War bombings. Till then, take care and good night!
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